Horner reveals kitchen meeting with Perez to address F1 slump

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner has disclosed he held a meeting with Sergio Perez in his kitchen in an attempt to resolve his driver’s latest Formula 1 slump.

Perez has encountered a sudden regression in results over recent rounds that have comprised him accumulating a meagre 15 points through the previous six rounds.

The Mexican’s dip has coincided with Red Bull coming under more intense pressure from rival teams, leaving team-mate Max Verstappen vulnerable at the sharp end.

Perez’s plight has seen him drop a seismic 137 points behind Verstappen in the championship, prompting reports regarding a potential termination clause in his deal.

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However, Horner, who branded Perez’s points return as “unsustainable” at Silverstone, has revealed that he gathered Perez in between rounds to understand his woes.

“We have a really open relationship,” Horner told Sky F1. “I sat down with him in the kitchen in my house and said, ‘come on, what’s going on? Is it something else?’

“And he was like ‘no, I think I’m just overthinking things a bit too much’.

“I think almost ignoring what’s going on on the other side of the garage will do him a favour, which is the approach that he’s taking now, just focusing on his own performance.”

Perez’s troubles have seen RB’s Daniel Ricciardo linked with a mid-season promotion, while Red Bull reserve Liam Lawson sampled the RB20 at Silverstone last week.

But Horner has insisted that Red Bull is eager to see Perez return to the competitiveness that earmarked him as a regular podium contender during the nascent races.

He added: “We all want Checo to realise the potential that he did in the first four or five races.

“We know he’s capable of that, that’s why we took up the option early on him for next year to try and settle him.

“I think he’s been in a bit of a headspin the last few races but hopefully today were the signs that he’s coming out of that.

“The team are working very hard with him to support him and make sure that he does re-find his form because we desperately need it.”

Red Bull has accelerated a sizeable update package to Budapest this weekend as it strives to cement its status as the pacesetting team over McLaren and Mercedes.

But while Perez’s car is missing the revised engine cover that Verstappen is running, the Mexican put in a positive FP2 run to end up two-tenths behind his team-mate.

“The cars are working well,” he highlighted. “There’s a slight difference between the cars.

“Both of them have upgrades. The only bit Checo’s missing is the engine cover and sidepod element. But the floor, the wing, the rest of it, is the same between the two.”

Horner commended Perez’s practice outing as his “best Friday since China”, citing that when the car is working well the “gap diminishes” between the Red Bull drivers.

“Hopefully he’ll have taken quite a bit of confidence out of that,” he added.

“I think the car, whilst it’s been performing, it’s been on a bit of a knife’s edge and I think we’ve seen Max just cope with that a little better than Checo certainly has.

“But hopefully with the steps we’ve made here, we’ve got the car in quite a nice window.”